Israel, Palestinians agree to end violence

US President Bill Clinton has announced an eleventh-hour deal between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, aimed both at bringing an immediate end to the violence which has swept the West Bank and allowing negotiations towards a full peace settlement to continue.

Standing before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who signed no formal agreement and made no statement themselves, Mr Clinton said both had agreed to make a public statement unequivocally calling for an end to the violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

The brutal clashes have so far killed more than 100 people in two weeks, most of them Palestinians.

The agreement came at the end of two days of talks brokered by Mr Clinton, with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. According to the Palestinian international cooperation minister, Nabil Shaath, it follows Israeli agreement to two Palestinian demands: one was for an international inquiry into the causes of the violence and the other for the lifting of a blockade on the Palestinian territories.

"The announcement would provide for an apparatus for ensuring the end to violence and a springboard for continuing the discussions in this difficult and complicated diplomatic process," Israel's acting foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said.

The closing session came against a backdrop of more violence in Gaza, as hundreds of Palestinians threw stones and firebombs at an Israeli border crossing, drawing return fire that injured 10 demonstrators.

Mr Arafat left the summit after Mr Clinton's announcement, while Mr Barak remained at the summit venue where he was expected to give a news conference, according to the Reuters news agency.

The talks, in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Egypt's Red Sea coast, had appeared to be set to end without success. Negotiations on a lasting settlement will resume between the two sides in two to three weeks, after the Arab summit to be held this weekend.